Subtlety
by Nigelcat1
Summary: The "helpless" pawn Harry Potter starts his fifth year at Hogwarts. As usual he will be abused, slandered, "tested" and made to feel worthless and guilty. However, the pawn now has a protector who educates and heals the boy body and soul. It is time for revenge, death, disaster and destruction of lives and master plans. Contains Dumbles/Weasley/Malfoy/other bashing.
1. Chapter 1 - Planning

SUBTLETY

JK Rowling owns all the rights to the books and the amazing characters she created. I write only to satisfy my imagination and use my creativity and make no money from my writings.

NOTE: I apologize for messing up chapters 3 & 4\. Hopefully it is fixed now. Also I will be redoing _Hidden_ to fix that story under the name of _The Hidden_ so that I can add another chapter and eventually finish it. Thanks for your patience and following.

Chapter 1 - Planning

If all went well none of them would know he was the one responsible for the punishments soon to be meted out.

Of course very few plans, if any, made by Harry Potter ever went the way he hoped, but that was mostly due to the manipulations of a certain unscrupulous wizard, the self-proclaimed Leader of the Light, Albus Dumbledore. But this time, Harry Potter now had the tools to free himself from the prison which had been his life and get his revenge on everybody.

Dumbledore had been manipulating the life of Harry Potter even before he was born having decided that Lily Evans would marry James Potter even though she totally despised the man for many good reasons.

But James Potter wanted Lily Evans because he couldn't have her and that made her all the more desirable and he would do whatever it took to make her his. Dumbledore "played Cupid" and arranged for certain untraceable spells to be cast on the unwilling girl so that it couldn't be said that James had used any magic – other than the magic of his many charms – to make her fall hopelessly in love with him.

James didn't want to actually marry her, he just wanted her to fall in love with him, date him, he would shag her and then dump her like he and his friend Sirius did to all the witches they dated. But since James was already in Dumbledore's pocket he was persuaded to marry her "for the Greater Good."

Then he had to get her pregnant as soon as possible as Dumbledore had a plan to end the war that Voldemort was winning and Lily Evans having a baby was a large part of this plan. Naturally he didn't tell James why but then he never told anyone the reasons for his plans. They were just given their orders and they obeyed without question.

James had no idea that his death was also part of the grand plan but he found out the hard way. Lily was to sacrifice herself for her son and when Voldemort went to kill the boy, using no doubt his favorite curse the Avada Kedavra, the curse would hit the boy and then bounce back and hit the Dark Lord, killing him instantly. There was a slight chance that the boy might live and if so, Dumbledore had already planned for that happening.

In any event, if the child died then Dumbledore would have _**arrived too late to save the Potters**_ but just in time to confront the Dark Lord. They would duel and Dumbledore would finally kill Voldemort and no one would be the wiser. If the child lived, there were plans already set in motion and in the end, if the Dark Lord really had found a certain type of immortality, Dumbledore would have the time to find out the ins and outs, and still defeat Voldemort in the end once again becoming a hero.

The child lived and Dumbledore sealed Wills, help set up Sirius Black, and condemned the boy to a life of abuse, starvation, misery and pain. Then he would be "rescued" told he was a wizard and come to Hogwarts to join the pawns that worshiped, adored and blindly followed Albus Dumbledore. He would then be tested while Dumbledore worked out his theories and eventually be a martyr so that Dumbledore could swoop in and save the day once more.

Everything had gone according to plan from the boy's abusive childhood, the carefully chosen and only friends allowed, the tests taken and the utter subjugation of the boy.

But then there had been the Triwizard Tournament which had turned out even better than Dumbledore had anticipated. Voldemort was resurrected and shockingly, the boy had survived. Then he was sent back to the hell of Privet Drive and the hysterical Minister of Magic and his minions took control and further injured the boy's reputation by sending Dementors to kill him. It ended up with him being tried before the entire Wizengamot and once again Dumbledore swooping in to save the day and "rescue" the boy.

Dumbledore had many other plans in place for the boy's fifth year, plans which would crush the boy and destroy his spirit and although it "looked as if Dumbledore was being used and abused by the Ministry" he really wasn't, he just allowed it to further his plans.

Dumbledore couldn't wait for the school year to begin so that Potter could go through the worse hell yet. It was for the Greater Good and in the end, the boy would be so tired of life and feel so hopeless that he would willing sacrifice himself because death would be much better than his miserable life.

However, not only Dumbledore but everyone else would be in for a shock and all those carefully laid plans would be destroyed and not the boy.

How would Harry accomplish this you ask? He had been freed from the miasma which had been placed on his since October 31, 1981. It had happened in the graveyard before the Death Eaters had been summoned. As soon as he resurrected Voldemort and stunned Peter Pettigrew and had used not his yew wand but another wand.

In the 12 years of his existence as a disembodied wraith, Voldemort had been in excruciating pain and unable to think clearly. However, once he had taken on the homunculus form, he wasn't perfect and very weak BUT he started to think lucidly. He did some research and fooled Pettigrew into thinking that Potter was going to be killed in the graveyard.

The only person who he had let in on his real plan was Barty Crouch, Jr. Crouch had been impersonating Moody and had access to the boy. Not only was he to put Potter's name into the Goblet of Fire, he was to help him survive and win the Tournament. Voldemort also had Crouch do a few investigations regarding Potter.

Thus, once Pettigrew was stunned and Potter still was tied to the gravestone both Voldemort and his snake Nagini had a chat with the boy. He also removed a few charms on the boy and revealed the results of his research. Potter didn't want to believe what he was told but then Voldemort swore on his life and magic and Potter agreed to go along with the "plan" which Voldemort had proposed to him.

He placed a few charms of his own on the boy, mostly involving shielding his mind from a certain Occlumens or two, revived Pettigrew, obliviated certain information and then summoned the Death Eaters. The show could then begin.

There was a lot of posturing for show, they dueled, a special Prior Incantato was created and Harry escaped with Cedric's body. He played his part perfectly as a hysterical sobbing boy (which he really was), panic ensued, a cover up was begun and Dumbledore "took charge" and eventually the usual disregard of the boy's welfare began.

Barty had summoned his former house elf Winky and re-bonded with the grateful little elf. She had always loved and cared for her master and was eager to serve him again. Although she had to pretend that she was drunk on butter beer, which she had been for the first two months at Hogwarts, she used this ruse to do a little spying and help her master. She was given some final orders and when Harry returned from the graveyard, Barty made his escape.

No physical, emotional or mental care was given to Harry and he was just sent home as usual. His "friends" acted as usual, namely they had their orders from Dumbledore. Harry arrived at Privet Drive and his misery began.

However, at night Winky would meet up with him and whisk him away from his prison and to the presence of the Dark Lord. There he would be fed a decent meal, given a few necessary potions and chat with Voldemort. When it was needed, Winky would glamour herself as Harry and do his chores for him, but only when he was being healed or if more intensive training was given. Plans were made and Harry was given the necessary tools to recover.

When he had possessed Quirrell, Voldemort had cause to be in the Headmaster's office on many occasions. He recognized all the various monitors, trackers and magical machinery which Dumbledore had on Harry. During the Tournament, Winky had secretly taken pictures of all of those things tracking Harry Potter. This enabled Barty to make copies of everything so that they could be replaced and the real ones monitoring or controlling Harry could be destroyed. Harry could be free of the spells, charms and hexes and Dumbledore would be none the wiser.

They had hoped to have most of the summer to get Harry mostly healed, given some much needed magical lessons and briefed but then the Dementors made their appearance. Still, there had been much accomplished and Harry was mostly free of the really damaging things. He also learned a lot of magic.

When Harry arrived at Grimmauld Place and talked with his friends, he had found out that they had been ordered by Dumbledore to basically abandon him and leave him with his feelings of guilt (because Harry had so many guilt charms placed on him that if it hadn't been for the anti-suicide spells, he probably would have killed himself long ago) and after analyzing the situation, realized it was all just more of Dumbledore's manipulations. The trial left no doubt about the Ministry's intentions and when Harry "met" Delores Umbridge at his trial, he automatically added another person to his list.

During his stay at Grimmauld Place, Harry's estimation of Sirius Black took a nose dive. Sirius viewed Harry as a replacement for James. Sometimes he even slipped and called Harry James. Then there was the treatment both he and Sirius received at the hands of Dumbledore and especially Molly Weasley.

So at this moment Harry found himself sitting on the Hogwarts Express waiting for Hermione and Ron to come back from the Prefects' meeting. Yes, Ron had been made Prefect and not Harry, who was the natural choice. He found out later that McGonagall had made Harry the Prefect but had been overridden by Dumbledore who had personally chose Ron.

"If it can't be Harry then it should be Neville Longbottom" the witch had screamed at Dumbledore, "Ron Weasley will not make a good Prefect, he will neglect his duties, make Hermione Granger do most if not all the work, will lord it over the younger years and abuse his position by taking points off Slytherins."

But Dumbledore's word was law and McGonagall had been forbidden from even telling Potter that he had been her choice.

The only interesting thing on the ride was the meeting of the strange but intriguing Luna Lovegood. Harry liked her immediately, even though she seemed to look directly into his soul.

Malfoy had made his annual visit, gave the usual taunts and insults but Harry didn't rise to them. Instead he just smiled a Mona Lisa-type smile at him and refused to be bated. So that was when Ron stepped in and started the fight. Eventually Malfoy and goons left, while Ron ranted at Harry for "not doing anything to retaliate" or some such stupid thing

"I just don't care anymore Ron," Harry had told him. He then tuned out Ron's rants and Ginny's attempt to flirt. He even managed to get a little sleep.

He knew that Malfoy would be getting "his payback" very shortly.

They went to the feast and Umbridge made her appearance. Harry developed a headache, but he consoled himself as she too would soon be gone, just as soon as he found out her greatest fear.

Finally the feast was over and they all went to bed. In the middle of the night Winky appeared as pre-arranged and Harry informed her of his mission of the night.

After casting several charms around his bed, disillusioning himself and Winky, he had her pop him to Malfoy's dorm room. Harry cast a few more spells and then began his punishment of Draco Malfoy.

Although Lucius Malfoy was a member of the Inner Circle, he had betrayed his Lord one time too many. Once Voldemort found out that the diary he had entrusted to Lucius had been destroyed, he was a marked and doom man. Thus Voldemort would allow Harry to punish Lucius' son not only to get his own revenge but to hurt Lucius.

Harry cast his curse and then had Winky take him back to bed. Harry had acquired a second wand which was kept disillusioned and hidden as no doubt he would be blamed for the action, at least by Snape, despite not having the means or magic to accomplish it. Besides the new wand, due to his increased health, Harry's magical signature had also changed so even Dumbledore wouldn't be able to discover who had committed the deed.

Harry went to breakfast the next morning and with the exception of the absence of Dumbledore, Snape and Malfoy, there was nothing worth noticing. It wasn't until the dinner meal that the rumors started flying. It seemed that Draco Malfoy woke up that morning minus his tongue. He was now at St. Mungo's being treated but from what was being said, since it was a magical curse, his tongue couldn't be regrown.

Just imagine, Draco Malfoy not able to talk. He couldn't taunt, call people names or insult anybody unless he wrote it down on paper and handed it to his victim. Tsk, tsk, how would he survive?

Hermione was horrified, Ron was ecstatic and Harry just chuckled lightly before being chastised by Hermione. Strange, but she didn't chastise Ron who was far more cruel in his comments and actually laughed – while stuffing food in his mouth.

The Slytherins had a mixed reaction. Most of them were delighted that something bad had happened to the snarly git. He considered himself the leader of Slytherin since his first year but had it not been for his father's wealth and power as well as Snape protecting him, the ponce would have been cursed to bits before the end of his first year as it was the Slytherin way.

Pansy Parkinson was wailing as without a tongue, "How can Draco properly kiss me?" That caused many people to gag.

Crabbe and Goyle were in shock as they didn't know what to do with themselves as Draco wasn't there to give them orders. What would they do if he didn't return to school?

Delores Umbridge was making her displeasure known as Draco was the heir of THE most prominent Pureblood family in Britain and she would not rest until the culprit was discovered and sent to Azkaban.

The other teachers were also quite happy the brat was tongueless **permanently** as Poppy Pomfrey informed them. Of course he would just have to learn silent casting sooner but he could return to school but, YIPPEE HE COULDN'T TALK!

Little did anyone know but this would just be the first of many paybacks.


	2. Chapter 2 - More Attacks

JK Rowling owns all the rights to the books and the amazing characters she created. I write only to satisfy my imagination and use my creativity and make no money from my writings.

Chapter 2 – More Attacks

Draco came back to the school within a week. He was accompanied by a private healer hired by Lucius to help the boy cope and learn, or at least try to learn, a type of sign language. He'd settle if his son just learned to write fast.

Lucius had actually gone screaming to the Dark Lord asking (because he knew better than to demand) if the Death Eaters could assist in helping to find the person responsible for this insult to the Malfoys and then to give proper and endless punishment to the fiend.

Voldemort refused saying there were other things more important and that Lucius should just seek his own revenge. Voldemort was staying at Malfoy Manor but only temporarily until his own private house could be repaired and refitted as a citadel.

So far there was no clue as to who had committed this outrage. Snape wanted to blame Potter (since he blamed him for everything) but even he had to admit it was beyond Potter's limited talent, especially since it was done in Slytherin House during the middle of the night and no one but a Slytherin could get passed the wards of that House.

Meanwhile Umbridge had begun her reign of terror. She had tried to get a rise out of Harry, tried very hard, but he had ignored her much to the surprise of everyone, especially Dumbledore when he heard about it. Thus, Harry did not earn the detention she so sincerely wanted to give him. He kept his mouth shut, his head down and was following her instructions.

Besides, as usual, Hermione had opened her big mouth and asked the questions which needed to be asked as had a few others, but Harry just kept quiet.

However, by the second class, after being ragged unmercifully by Ron, Harry still wasn't going to get himself in trouble. Umbridge had tried to goad him but he just answered respectfully and tersely and _ **kept his head down**_.

He was doing it so well that Hermione made a comment about his self-control and after nagging him to say something about the unfairness of the situation, he merely replied, "I'm trying to behave myself for once. Aren't you glad?"

"But Harry it's not like you to stand by and watch an injustice being done. Are you ill? Don't you intend to protest?"

"Nope, you did a fine job in our first class and from what others are saying at least every class has asked the same questions and gotten the same answers."

"But mate," Ron had added, "You usually DO SOMETHING so why aren't.…"

"And I just get in trouble. If you think that someone should do something," purred Harry, "then why don't you be the one to do it. Or," he said to Hermione, "Why don't you talk with McGonagall or Dumbledore?"

This was what she always said and advised him to do and now that he was "behaving" and wasn't getting involved she didn't know how to act. She would just have to report this to Dumbledore at their weekly briefing.

And she and Ron did. Dumbledore was puzzled and concerned as he had expected the boy to be in detention and in trouble by this time. He would have to cast a charm on the boy to make him "act normal" so that his plans could start. Meanwhile Granger and Weasley would just have to urge him to "act normal" and he'd give them a week before he'd call Harry to his office for "a chat" or two.

Ron was discussing Umbridge with Harry every chance he got. He was most relentless when they were going to bed in their dorm. He just wouldn't shut up until both Dean and Seamus told him to and then, as usual, he ignored them. Then Harry told him to shut up or "do it yourself if you are that angry" but it still didn't shut Ron up.

But something else would although no one knew it yet.

Exactly one week after Malfoy's attack, Ron woke up as usual very, very hungry. They all went down to breakfast where Ron piled his plate with as much as it could hold and began to eat. Naturally he was talking, eating and grossing people out, eating some more and then it happened. He stopped in mid-sentence, got a strange expression on his face and then without warning, vomited up his breakfast. It was not a pretty sight.

Fred took pity not on Ron but himself and the others at the table by vanishing the mess. Ron didn't even thank his brother he just took a drink of pumpkin juice and started refilling his plate and going back to his conversation about the Chudley Cannons' chances for their next game. But then he threw up and again and McGonagall came over to remove him from the table and to take him up to Madame Pomfrey much to the relief of the entire Great Hall by this time. She also cleaned up the mess.

Pomfrey gave his an exam and then treated him for a stomach problem, thinking he was probably coming down with a stomach bug. Just to be safe, she wanted him to stay in the Infirmary for the day and although he didn't like the idea at least it got him out of classes.

But then he couldn't keep down his lunch or his dinner. He couldn't keep down the broth he was given despite all the potions Pomfrey spelled directly into his stomach. By the second day a very hungry Ron was complaining. He was starving but just couldn't eat.

Pomfrey was at a loss and since she couldn't find the problem she was forced to send him to St. Mungo's. The poor staff at St. Mungo's had to put up with not only one of the whiniest 15 year olds in the last few decades but the terror known as Molly Weasley.

After a week at St. Mungo's a diagnosis was reached. Ron Weasley had developed an allergy to food, or at least solid food and so far there was no cure. The only things he could keep down were various potions, water, weak, broth, weak herbal tea and carrot juice for some strange reason. Anything else he vomited. From the looks of things, he would be that way for the rest of his life. He had to be put in restraints upon hearing this and Molly threatened to sue St. Mungo's for malpractice because this wasn't a diagnosis she would accept and they just better find a cure.

Well they couldn't but they would keep looking as this was a very interesting case. It was so interesting that they were consulting with some Muggleborn doctors in the Muggle world to see if they could help.

Ron was gone from school for two weeks and only came back because he was forced to. Snape refused to make all the necessary potions for the boy because (1) he just didn't have the time and (2) he hated the kid, his family and it wasn't part of his job description. Besides just who was going to pay for all the special ingredients needed to make the special potions as some of the items needed were very expensive?

In the end Hogwarts would be picking up the tab for the potions since he was a student and it was Hogwarts' responsibility to feed its students even if that student had special, expensive food requirements. Snape was ordered by Dumbledore to make the potions. He refused. Dumbledore ordered him again telling him he could not refuse.

Snape contacted Lucius Malfoy who although he was no longer a member of the Hogwarts Board of Governors, still had connections and, backed up by Umbridge, it was finally decided that St. Mungo's would be providing the potions but Hogwarts would pay for them.

What Ron would do for food when not at Hogwarts was not the problem of St. Mungo's or Hogwarts and since Molly always bragged how good she was at brewing potions well then she could just brew them. "It would probably save you more money in buying the potion ingredients that what you normally spend on food to feed your bottomless pit" Snape had told her.

Ron still sat at the table for meals guzzling his foul tasting (of course) potions and drinking his carrot juice (he hated carrots and the juice from them even more) and weak, sugarless tea. He did nothing but complained the entire time and people began to wish for the good old days when he just inhaled vast amounts of food.

The Twins took pity on the table by casting silencing charms on him during meals but got a howler from their mother because they were picking on poor Ronnie during his time of trouble. So they had to stop but others from Gryffindor or Ravenclaw did it for them.

Eventually Ron stopped eating at the table because he could still see and smell the food and knowing he couldn't have any was too much torture, so there was peace at last – except for when his roommates had to cast silencing charms around their room so that they couldn't hear Ron's sobs and his even worse than usual snores.

While Ron had been at St. Mungo's, yet another person had been punished. Who was it you may ask? Why Umbridge herself.

She had finally managed to get Harry in detention. She had to use a very flimsy excuse but she had shamelessly done it. She made him use a blood quill and write "I must not tell lies" for three hours each time. Then she would not give him a pass for being out after curfew and he would receive another detention by a Prefect lurking outside the toad's office and he would serve more detentions.

Except he wouldn't as this time he decided to do something about it. After the first detention he reported it to McGonagall. She had actually been outraged and told Dumbledore, who had no choice but to complain to Fudge. Fudge, however, refused to believe it despite the words etched into the boy's hand. An Auror who had accompanied Fudge to Hogwarts to investigate the complaint had cast a glamour on Harry's hand. You couldn't see the words but that didn't mean they were not there just hidden.

Therefore, Umbridge got away with it, Fudge was in cahoots and got some revenge on the Boy-Who-Lived and merely announced that he had either fooled McGonagall and Dumbledore or they were in on the "conspiracy" against poor Delores.

So Harry had been given a month's detention "merely doing lines like he had before" and Gryffindor House lost 300 points. The smug smirk on Umbridge's face was even more disgusting than usual and you couldn't wipe it off.

There was now a slight problem as if something strange happened to Umbridge, Harry would be blamed. Not Dumbledore or McGonagall but Harry. So arrangements were made to get Umbridge out of Hogwarts for a meeting so that something could happen to her and Harry couldn't be blamed.

It had taken two weeks, two more weeks of Harry enduring horrible pain from not only the blood quill but having to see the stomach-turning smirks on Umbridge's ugly face, but it was done.

Fudge had been "convinced" by Lucius Malfoy to call Delores in for a meeting at the Ministry. The meeting took place in front of several witnesses. The meeting mercifully ended as all of those present had had to spend two hours listening to Umbridge bragging about all the improvements she was making at Hogwarts and how it was only a matter of time before Dumbledore was thrown out and Potter punished for his lies.

They were all leaving Fudge's office when a chill in the air was felt. Much to everyone's horror, the two Dementors kept at the Ministry were floating in the hall outside the office. All were shocked still upon seeing the vile, frightening creatures not only out of the special room they resided in but that they were there closing in on the seven people exiting the office.

One Dementor floated over to Cyrus Duffin, a middle level employee of the Child Welfare Department, who was a very annoying Pureblood so incompetent and powerless that during the first war Voldemort refused to recruit him as he would be more trouble than he was worth. You can imagine how bad that guy was! He was useless and aggravating and wouldn't be missed by anybody (especially his long-suffering family) and, most importantly, he had no connection whatsoever to Harry Potter.

The second Dementor headed for Delores and then before anyone could react, both Cyrus and Delores were given the kiss. Everybody else fled with Lucius leading the way. They turned the corner and were greeted with the horrible sight of seeing a witch and a wizard laying still with lifeless eyes wide open in horror.

It was declared a terrible, unfortunate accident. So three nonentities were sacrificed (on orders of Voldemort) so that one vile, vicious bitch could meet her well-deserved end and Harry would stop suffering.

Fudge saw to it that Delores was given a fine funeral. He made attendance mandatory as very few people would have come voluntarily. He personally gave the eulogy and it was very long, boring but a great sleep inducer.

It was the cover up that was his greatest coup regarding her death. Sirius Black was blamed for the actions of the Dementors. If fact, Black was being blamed for anything unusual such as the increased "pranks" being played on Muggles. Although it had been Lucius' suggestion, Fudge made it his own and took it to such lengths that Lucius, Dumbledore and even Black were impressed.

It was really Percy Weasley who wrote the news releases and speeches but Fudge who delivered it with such feeling and conviction and made it the official Ministry position as, after all, there was no way the Potter boy was telling the truth as dead men don't come back to life, so it had to be Black who was responsible for everything.

But Harry wanted Fudge punished for his betrayal whereas Voldemort wanted him kept in office, so they compromised. Voldemort arranged for Fudge to be administered as special potion and as such, it could not be traced back to Harry or even Dumbledore. It would however, serve to pacify Harry regarding his treatment.

Cornelius Fudge developed the worst case of halitosis that the healers at St. Mungo's had ever seen. They had no cure for it but knew that it was definitely a hex. "You will just have to hope it goes away" they had told him.

It ended up that Fudge's mouth had to be specially charmed so that he could breathe and talk around people and they would be spared from inhaling most of the smell. Unfortunately for everybody, another charm had to be placed so that he could eat. Therefore, no one could sit next to him while he ate so there were always two empty seats on either side of him when he ate in public.

So his life consisted of the casting and re-casting of the various charms which allowed him to still function. But no charm could prevent his food and drink from tasting bad but at least he could eat and get some, but not much, enjoyment unlike Arthur Weasley's unfortunate son.

Damn that Sirius Black!

Without Umbridge at Hogwarts, Harry's detentions were cancelled and Dumbledore allowed the glamour on his hand to be removed. It did nothing to fix it and only served to remind the boy of his abuse at the hands of Umbridge and the Ministry – and Dumbledore's cooperation.

That miserable bastard had known the glamour was there and could have removed it the same day it was placed and called Fudge out, but he had not. He left Harry to suffer the horror which was Umbridge as well as the 300 points being taken from Gryffindor. Not only was Gryffindor House furious with Harry (even though as usual it wasn't his fault) but the three other Houses had found out and saw to Harry's further hurt and humiliation.

Harry wasn't allowed to kill Dumbledore as that was reserved for Voldemort BUT he was allowed to hurt him whether it be physically or emotionally. Harry doubted that Dumbledore had real emotions so physical discomfort or public humiliation it had to be.

What to do, what to do? A prank? A really bad prank? Yes that was the answer and since Harry Potter never played pranks, no doubt the Weasley Twins would be blamed.

It was very convenient to be able to speak parsel tongue. One of the beauties of the language was that only two people (in Britain, at least) could speak it – Voldemort and Harry Potter. When a spell or a curse was cast in this rare language, it was all but impossible for it to be removed except by another parsel speaker.

A disillusioned Winky was able to sneak into the Headmaster's office late one night when the portraits were asleep and Fawkes was out flying. She grabbed exactly three lemon drops and took them to Harry who cast an ancient and very nasty hex on them. Then she quickly took them back. Now all they had to do was to wait.

The hex wouldn't start until all three drops were eaten, but since Dumbledore averaged at least a dozen drops a day (more if he was having a bad day) it wasn't very long until it took effect.

Dumbledore had just sat down for lunch in the Great Hall when the hex took effect. Every single hair on his body fell out. He was completely bald, had no beard, eyebrows, eyelashes or even hair on his arms, legs or any other places. It exposed the ancient body of the Headmaster in all its ugliness as Albus Dumbledore had never been an attractive man even in his youth.

He had also had a very bad case of dragon pox when he was a child and his face would always carry the scars. That was one of the reasons he grew a beard. He also had age spots which he personally had always considered very unattractive and had glamoured away the ones on his hands. He hadn't looked at his naked body since he was in his seventies but knew they were on his arms, legs and torso but his gaudy, long flowing robes hide them.

Now the ones on his face, neck and bald head showed and he discovered that due to whatever "prank" had been played on him, a glamour would not work to cover them up. He had very pale skin and if it were not for his large, bulbous nose, one would notice a strong resemblance to the snake-like appearance of Voldemort.

People now cringed when they saw him and even his strongest eye twinkle or serene smile could not bring back any attractiveness to the wizard's features. Due to his new raw exposed looks, no one wanted to look him directly at him let alone in the eyes so he had lost the use of one of his best sources of manipulations.

Dumbledore was furious and swore revenge on whoever was responsible for this outrage. The only problem was he didn't know who to revenge on as it was far beyond what the Weasley Twins could do and St. Mungo's had never come across such a thing. They advised he wear a wig on his head but added that a false beard would be ridiculous and he would be foolish to wear one. "Hopefully," the Healers had said, "it will wear off and your hair will regrow."

That had been no comfort at all and although he did take to wearing a wig, it just wouldn't sit right on his now shiny, slippery head and a sudden breeze (or a slyly cast spell) would blow the wig off no matter how strong a sticking charm he placed on it.

Eventually he would find out who did it and make their life miserable even after the spell was removed. He had a gut feeling that somehow Tom had arranged for it to be done therefore he must have a spy at Hogwarts, other than Severus Snape. Snape had sworn he had not caused it and from the information he could obtain, the Dark Lord was just as surprised as anyone else about the "strange occurrences at Hogwarts" and most especially what had befallen the poor, unfortunate Malfoys.

He had looked so shocked that Severus believed him. But Voldie had always been a great actor and had even fooled Dumbledore on occasion while he was still a student.

Voldie would enjoy seeing the expression on the face of the "Greatest Manipulator" since - well since anybody – when he found out that his Pawn had betrayed him. But first he would have Dumbledore's empire crumble and see the old $*#& &((& defeated, miserable and begging for mercy at his feet.

He would not get it from Voldie, Harry or anybody as he deserved complete ruination for his sins before being consigned to Hell.

Yes revenge was a dish best served cold especially when Dumbledore never thought he could or would lose.


	3. Chapter 3 - Harry's Turn

JK Rowling owns all the rights to the books and the amazing characters she created. I write only to satisfy my imagination and use my creativity and make no money from my writings.

Chapter 3 – Harry's Turn

Halloween was fast approaching and, as usual, people would be eagerly waiting to see what mishap (or rather disaster) would be happening at the school or mostly to Harry Potter. This year, however, Harry knew the reason why something would be happening, not just what.

Due to all the unexplained things happening to certain people, something had to happen to Harry to keep him from being suspected. Voldemort had warned him to expect something but would not tell him what. The only thing he knew was that it would not be as bad or as permanent as the other curses and it would happen on Halloween.

Harry found out after the day's classes when he reported to Quidditch practice. He had been cursed to not be able to ride a broom. His Firebolt bucked him off. He tried using the brooms of his other team members and then, "in desperation" the school brooms but no broom would allow him to mount, sit or fly it.

To anybody else this would be laughable or depressing if that person was a member of the Quidditch team, but to Harry Potter it would be a tragedy of the first order. At their next secret meeting Voldemort told Harry it was only temporary and had been cast on his Firebolt and all other brooms in the school. This was no mean feat in the scope of magic. However, if Harry were to receive another broom as a gift or replacement, since the hex hadn't been placed on it Harry was to pretend the hex was working and allow himself to be thrown off.

So even the Boy-Who-Lied-and-Was-Still-Lying (his newest title) had been horribly cursed and removed from any suspicion.

Naturally he couldn't play on the Gryffindor team and the Slytherins rejoiced and taunted him severely and unceasingly. Draco kept sending him letters, notes and the occasional memorandum mocking him but Harry just ignored them. Granted he had to keep up appearances for his House and the rest of the school but at least he knew that it was temporary and served a good purpose.

Snape was walking around with a big smile on his face and insulting and mocking Harry in classes, walking in the hallways, eating in the Great Hall and actually seeking the boy out every chance he got. But Harry just took it as he knew that Snape's punishment was the next one and it would be devastating to the man.

And then there was Gryffindor House. All of his teammates were furious that he couldn't ride a broom. It wasn't his fault that he had been cursed, but Captain Angela Johnston still blamed him. "The least you can do is give your Firebolt to your replacement," she had yelled at him.

"No the 'LEAST' I can do is not LOAN my broom to anyone," he had replied. "Also, I have no intention of GIVING my broom to anyone whether I can personally fly it or not. As to loaning it, I would have to see who my replacement is before I make that decision. Besides my broom itself could be hexed and should be given tests to find out if it is."

In an act of total nastiness Angela informed Harry that he was going to be "loaning" his broom to his replacement whether he wanted to or not because McGonagall had already approved it. She then went on to yell at him and verbally abuse him.

Ginny Weasley was chosen to be the new replacement seeker and she very smugly went to Harry and demanded he turn over his broom to her. It had been the way she looked, spoke and her pompous demand that irked Harry to no end and he merely said, "No."

He was then promptly beaten up by Ron, Dean, Seamus and the Twins and given a few kicks in the ribs when he went down on the floor by Angela herself. Katie Bell had gotten Harry's broom and triumphantly handed it to a smirking Ginny Weasley. The rest of the House had watched this atrocity in silence.

Only after Ginny held up the broom in triumph over her head and the team left to go practice did Neville Longbottom come over to Harry and told him, "I am taking you to Infirmary." Hermione had said and did nothing except go back to her studying.

On the way to the Infirmary they stopped at McGonagall's office so that Harry could report the outrage and show her his injuries. She merely stated that he had been told he was to give over his Firebolt to his successor as that was the only decent "Gryffindor thing" to do and since he refused, he had gotten what he deserved.

He then reminded her that his Firebolt hadn't been checked to see if it was hexed against only him or if it was just plain hexed. She told him not to be ridiculous as Madame Hooch had looked it over and pronounced it safe to use by anybody except Harry. She then dismissed the boys and Neville took Harry to the Infirmary for treatment.

Since Ron's "misfortune" he had become even more an obnoxious and vindictive a person than before. Next to chess, talking about Quidditch and bragging about real and imagined (mostly imagined) exploits and talents, eating was all that Ron had and now he had lost it.

For some unfathomable reason he blamed Harry for his troubles but he still lashed out at everybody, especially in his capacity as a Prefect. Dean and Seamus were appalled at his behavior but sensibly said nothing as they knew how vindictive he could be and he had the Twins to back him up as Molly had ordered them to " **take care and give every comfort to their poor unfortunate brother – or else**."

Neville just ignored (or tried) to ignore him like he usually did but since he had always been a victim and was considered an easy target, Ron doubled his efforts at abuse. Harry had defended Neville and Ron lashed out at Harry. Their "friendship" was slowly dissolving much to Harry's secret joy.

Hermione was walking a fine line and seemed as if she was trying to remain neutral for as long as possible but knew that she would shortly be forced to choose a side as Ron had made it very clear. Since Ron and the other Weasleys were on Dumbledore's side and Harry was just Harry, she knew she would have to abandon her real first (and truly only) friend very soon unless she wanted to become a pariah and a victim as well as losing Dumbledore's trust and "mentoring" and probably any future career in the Magical World. But for now she was just trying to still be Harry's friend while pacifying Ron.

It was while Madame Pomfrey was finishing up Harry's treatment that an out-of-breath Colin Creevey came rushing into the Infirmary, yelling that "Ginny's dead, she fell off your broom and broke her neck and Ron is on his way up here to kill you because he's saying it's all your fault."

It was Madame Pomfrey who didn't hesitate for an instant. She dragged Harry, Neville and Colin over to her personal floo and asked that Neville allow access to Harry and Colin through the Longbottom Lodge's floo and for them to stay there until she personally came to retrieve them.

The boys had barely gone through when McGonagall came racing in looking for Harry.

"Where's Potter?"

"I treated him and sent him on his way" Pomfrey calmly replied. "Is there something wrong?"

McGonagall told her that she had ordered Potter to turn over his Firebolt to his replacement. Ginny Weasley replaced him, got his broom and then the entire team and some others had gone out to watch the practice and to see how Ginny flew the Firebolt.

"Yes, I heard all about that part," Pomfrey replied coldly, "as well as the reason why he came to the Infirmary for treatment after you so callously dismissed him."

McGonagall showed a bit of remorse but said only that it had been Dumbledore's orders "and you know we can't go against them." "Besides, Rolanda had checked the broom and pronounced it fine and that it was just Potter who was hexed and not any of the brooms. The broom was supposed to be safe."

She continued saying that after dismissing Potter and Longbottom she had gone down to watch the practice and arrived just as the broom started bucking uncontrollably. Ginny had only been up about 20 feet but she couldn't handle the broom and was almost immediately thrown off and before McGonagall could get close enough to cast a levitation charm the girl was falling to the ground head first.

"It was awful," sobbed McGonagall, "Everybody just froze as it happened so quickly. Rolanda couldn't act fast enough probably due to shock and neither could any of the team. The girl just fell head first and impacted on the ground and you could…you could just hear the crunching sound of her neck breaking." and with that said McGonagall burst into tears.

McGonagall had sent Colin Creevey to notify the Headmaster as Ron immediately started blaming Potter for his sister's death and was running off saying he was going to kill Potter.

"I cast a binding spell on him and ordered Rolanda and Angela Johnston to take charge and keep him tied up until he calmed down and that I would inform the Headmaster and the Weasleys."

"And you just know that Molly Weasley will for some illogical reason agree with Ronald and demand 'justice' or some such nonsense and Harry will be seriously hurt or sued" Pomfrey stated.

"Probably," cried McGonagall. "Oh Poppy, what can we do?" she wailed.

"What do you mean what can WE do?" shouted the angry Medi-witch. "It is clear that it wasn't Potter's fault, that Hoochie had made a grievous mistake regarding the broom and that Dumbledore should inform all the Weasleys to stand down or ELSE."

"Yes. I know that is what _**should happen**_ but who knows what _**will happen**_ " snapped McGonagall. "Albus will do what Albus wants to and since…since…well since he feels that Potter is not acting like he has acted in the past four years – you know as he's controlling his temper, staying out of fights, improving his marks - well Albus for some inexplicable reason thinks this means the boy might be turning dark after the events in the graveyard."

"You mean, the boy is just starting to realize what has been going on for the past four years."

"Sshhh Poppy. You know the _walls have ears_ and report back to Albus. You also know that if he thinks allowing the Weasleys a perfectly unreasonable vendetta against Potter will help him get Potter **back into line once he 'rescues' him from certain disaster** he will have no second thoughts about…well you know."

Yes, Pomfrey did know which is why she sent the three boys to the safety of Longbottom Lodge.

"I'm giving you a calming draft and then I want you to look for Potter," Pomfrey told McGonagall. "Even with you giving your orders to keep the Weasleys from leaving the pitch and going after Harry, no doubt your orders have been totally ignored by someone and I would not be surprised if Molly Weasley is already in the building breathing fire, making demands and threatening dire consequences."

Unfortunately Minerva had to agree with her friend and after she left, Pomfrey went into her office and summoned her personal house elf. Although she did use the Hogwarts elves, she also had a personal non-Hogwarts controlled elf that she used for things she didn't want the Headmaster involved in.

She quickly wrote a letter to Amelia Bones and had the elf hand deliver it. She then went back to her usual duties but also prepared to receive the body of Ginny Weasley. On second thought, she decided to make an unauthorized floo trip to St. Mungo's to the official Coroner and briefed him about the facts, the circumstances and the possible unpleasantness of the tragedy.

Healer Shelby, the official coroner for the Ministry of Magic, had had dealings with Albus Dumbledore throughout the years. He was quite aware of the wizard's propensity for "hiding things" and how he at times didn't reports deaths to the Coroner's Office until after the funeral or cremation.

It was a well-kept secret that there had been many deaths over the years at Hogwarts especially since Dumbledore became Headmaster. Most of them had been Muggleborn students who either had "an unfortunate accident" or succumbed to the stress of competing with Purebloods and Half-bloods and simply "Couldn't handle the pressure of living and learning in their new world" as Dumbledore had termed it and "had taken their own life."

Shelby thought, and then little by little, found out otherwise. There were just too many Muggleborn suicides and accidents. Since they were Muggleborns, the Ministry never investigated it as well as they would when the same thing occurred to a Pureblood or Half-blood. Shelby didn't think it was a case of blood indifference on Dumbledore's part as he had only been called to Hogwarts once for a death because a player had died because of a head injury while playing a Quidditch game and there were just too many witnesses to not report it until after the funeral.

All the other deaths he first heard about when the necessary paperwork was sent to him by the Ministry for St. Mungo's official records. By that time the student had died in some way and was already buried or cremated, so the only official record of how the student had died was written in by Dumbledore who always wrote "accidental death, no autopsy required as per request of parent(s)/guardian(s)."

He knew that for some reason Dumbledore was doing cover ups and getting away with it especially when he heard that there were never any official announcements regarding a death of a student, they just "disappeared" and were never mentioned again. Dumbledore had told him it was because suicides were "distressing" and he didn't want a black mark cast on a family or a student's reputation destroyed.

That was a ridiculous explanation and it didn't excuse not reporting or calling him in for all the "accidental deaths" so no, Dumbledore was covering things up. He had even made Pomfrey take a special confidentiality oath wherein she was answerable to Dumbledore only and could not report any medical treatment she administered UNLESS she first had the permission of Dumbledore. However, that only applied to Half-bloods and Muggleborns – not a Pureblood like Ginny Weasley.

He also knew that anything remotely involving Harry Potter, especially during times such as these, meant that Dumbledore would be undertaking some fast and furious, probably underhanded, actions to not only hide things but to do a little "mischief" on the sly. Hence he appreciated the risk the Medi-witch was taking in going against the Headmaster's orders.

Pomfrey told him that she had already sent a note to Amelia Bones so after he left a few orders for his staff, he went with her to Hogwarts to take charge before Dumbledore could do whatever it was he was planning to do. Once they were there he advised Pomfrey to pack up all her personal belongings as he had every intention of making her leave her position as Hogwarts Medi-witch for "your own safety and continuing future health."

Minerva McGonagall had been shocked but pleasantly surprised to find that her orders and actually been obeyed. Angela Johnson had considered disobeying but Hooch had actually stunned the girl and even more strange, the Weasley Twins had obeyed.

Although they were shocked and horrified that their only sister had died, they knew – as any sane, rational person should know – that it was not Harry's fault. They also knew that fact would not stop Ron from going berserk and definitely not their mother from being totally illogical and causing as much trouble and misery as she possibly could if only because she had lost a child and her so very precious daughter at that and she would want somebody to suffer, and _suffer greatly for her loss_.

Apparently luck was on the side of innocence as unknown to Minerva, Albus was not at the school. He only notified her when he was leaving if he felt like it or if he had work for her to do while he was gone or was going to be gone for more than four hours. This was one of the times when he had left the school without telling anybody as he was going to see a wizard who was a "hair specialist" in regard to seeing if there was a spell that could grow back his glorious hair and beard.

So as it stood now, he didn't know about Ginny's death so Molly wasn't informed and Minerva just might be able to keep things in control. As a precaution she gathered Flitwick, Sprout and Snape, told them what had happened and for them to keep things in control "unless you want Molly Weasley rampaging around the school screaming, ranting, raving and causing havoc."

Snape didn't want that even if it meant that Potter would avoid getting in trouble, getting harmed (or possibly killed) if only temporarily. Besides the Mutt and the Wolf would hear about it and descend upon the school and he just wasn't in the mood to joust or put up with them. Voldemort had been having him brew up a large list of special potions (using Hogwarts' potions stores no less) and he was exhausted from staying up late to meet the deadline while keeping up with his school work and attending the useless Order meetings.

By the time Dumbledore arrived back at Hogwarts, Amelia Bones had been there to start an investigation, the Coroner had completed his job, Poppy Pomfrey and written out her resignation and turned it in to McGonagall and then left with Healer Shelby and Ginny Weasley's body.

Bones had also broken the news to Arthur Weasley who had gone directly to St. Mungo's to see his daughter without his wife as he wanted a few moments alone with his baby girl before Molly descended on the scene and let loose the "dogs of war." He also alerted Bill and Percy before he finally went home to break the news to his wife.

No one knew where Harry Potter was and didn't care that Neville and Colin were also missing. Snape had dosed Ronald with several calming draughts but he kept vomiting them up, so he stunned the kid senseless and magically bound him. At least it kept him quiet.

Dumbledore had rushed off to St. Mungo's to survey the situation and to plan how he could turn it into his advantage. Shortly after he got there Molly entered and then PANDEMONIUM REIGNED.

So it had been Minerva McGonagall who broke the sad news to the students at Hogwarts at the beginning of the evening meal. Since Dumbledore wasn't there she explained EXACTLY HOW AND WHY the tragedy had occurred so there would be no doubt that it wasn't Potter's fault (or at least she hoped there would be no doubt).

The Slytherins snickered, the Ravenclaws didn't particularly care (except for Luna Lovegood) and the Hufflepuffs were strangely indifferent to the matter. Few people outside of Gryffindor House liked Ginny Weasley for many reasons, most of which had been the threats she had made to other girls to "keep your hands off of MY HARRY" and warned them that they would suffer consequences if they ever tried to approach Potter, let alone attempt to flirt or date him as _**he was the property of Ginny Weasley and he would someday marry her**_.

Ginny had been on Harry's "list" especially since he found out about the illegal marriage contract Dumbledore had drawn up with Molly. But Harry had had no intention of seeing the girl killed but then, it was her own fault so his conscious was clear. She was just another one down and many more to go.


	4. Chapter 4 - Other Punishments

JK Rowling owns all the rights to the books and the amazing characters she created. I write only to satisfy my imagination and use my creativity and make no money from my writings.

Chapter 4 – Other Punishments

After about a week things had calmed down. Dumbledore had demanded that Pomfrey return to her duties but Healer Shelby and Amelia Bones had supported the Medi-witch in her decision to be free of Albus Dumbledore. She now had a job at a clinic in Ireland and was safe, for the moment at least, from the retribution of Dumbledore and the insane Weasleys.

The Ministry took the opportunity of supplying Hogwarts with a new Medi-witch, who just happened to be loyal to the Ministry and would be replacing Umbridge as the Ministry spy. Alva Aldridge was only an adequate medi-witch and she had just coasted along throughout her career because she was a Pureblood. But she hated Albus Dumbledore since her Hogwarts days so she was eager to spy on him.

After Umbridge's demise, Dumbledore had tricked the Ministry into giving him an Auror to teach Defense. Hestia Jones was a secret member of the Order of the Phoenix and although she was obliged to use the Ministry-approved books which Umbridge used, she would be actually teaching Defense as well as preparing the fifth years for their OWLS and the seventh years for their NEWTS.

Dumbledore also had her secretly recruiting for the Order and he hoped to gain and influence students belonging to certain families known as holdouts from both Voldemort and Dumbledore. It was Dumbledore's intention that there would no neutrals in this war. You were either on the side of Light and Right, led by Albus Dumbledore or you were a filthy, wretched, low-life individual on the side of Darkness and Evil led by Voldemort.

Although Molly Weasley had tried to blame Harry for Ginny's death, she was laughed out of court. Due to Shelby's and Bones' timely actions, Dumbledore had been unable to stage things so that he could "rescue" Harry from the wrath of the Weasleys.

To the contrary, even Fudge had warned Molly that if anything happened to Potter, even though he had lied about the return of the Dark Lord, any and all Weasleys would be held responsible. He was still the Boy-Who-Lived and the last of the line of an Ancient and Noble House (even though he didn't know it and no one was to tell him of that fact) and if harm came to him….well Azkaban had plenty of room.

Ron would not let it go. The broom had been thoroughly checked by the Ministry, who pronounced it hexed. Ron had tried to argue that it had been Potter who had hexed it because he was too much of a #%*#%^#* to share his broom since he couldn't play Quidditch. The Ministry, which was still hostile to Potter, had actually proclaimed that no, Potter was not the one who had hexed the broom and that whoever had hexed Potter had hexed the broom. Therefore Potter was exonerated.

Molly had tried to demand damages for the pain and suffering her family had endured for having taken pity on the obnoxious orphan and had welcomed him into their family. Since the Weasleys were so close to Potter, they had been exposed to danger by the association with the boy and no doubt that was the reason Ron had developed his "allergy" and why Ginny was dead.

She demanded 500,000 galleons be paid to the Weasleys for their pain and suffering. Harry did not have that much in his trust vault and since he didn't know he had other vaults which he would inherit on his 17th birthday, Molly had let the cat out of the proverbial bag. The Weasleys would still not be getting any money but now Harry "officially" knew he was not only a millionaire but the last of Ancient and Noble House. Dumbledore was furious as some of his plans were now ruined.

Ron had been personally warned by Dumbledore that he was not to harm Potter under any circumstances or at least not physically. Mentally and emotionally, yes but physically no. But would that stop Ron Weasley once he got something in what passed for his mind? Hell no. He plotted his revenge.

He stupidly spiked Harry's pumpkin juice with a fast action poison. Since he couldn't brew a potion, he had merely looked up poisonous ingredients and swiped a potent one from Snape's stores. It never occurred to him that he could be caught or even suspected. He arranged for one of the elves the Twins used to carry out their pranks to spike Harry's drink telling the elf that this was a prank directed at Harry by his brothers and that he was delivering it so that they would have an alibi.

So as Harry drank his morning pumpkin juice Ron watched with eager eyes. Hermione noticed the manic gleam just as Harry swallowed his juice. It was too late to do or say anything as once the juice went down Harry's throat, he started choking and foaming at the mouth. Due to the smile on Ron's face, there was no doubt in Hermione's mind that Ron had poisoned Harry. Neville saw it also as did Parvati and Lavender.

It had been Snape who had saved Potter's life – sort of. Snape always carried a bezoar on his person and as soon as he saw the choking and the foam he rushed over and shoved the stone down Potter's throat. What Snape or anybody else didn't know was that Harry Potter could not be killed by anyone but Voldemort. He was also immune to practically all known poisons due to the basilisk venom still running through his veins. He choked and foamed but would have survived without the bezoar.

When it was clear that Harry would survive the expression on Ron's face clearly showed that he was not only disappointed but angry and was further proof that he was the poisoner. Neville, Parvati, Lavender and now Dean Thomas reported this to McGonagall. Snape agreed with their suspicions.

Dumbledore was told but replied that since "Harry was still alive and thriving all was well" and that he would be having a stern heart-to-heart talk with young Ronald and forbid him from further attempts at homicide.

McGonagall punched Albus Dumbledore in the jaw and then let loose a string of expletives which made Snape blush and some of the portraits in the Headmaster's Office flee from their picture frames. The Gryffindor students who had accompanied the two Heads to give their evidence quietly (and quickly) left the office and Neville went off to send a quick letter to Amelia Bones and his Grandmother. He called one of the Longbottom house elves to send the letters since the Hogwarts elves couldn't be trusted. He didn't know if anything would be done about this, but he had tried.

Late that same night when Hermione Granger snuck up into her dorm to sleep she was greeted by her roommates. She had gone to bed as late as she dared because she had been trying to ignore the girls. They knew that she had witnessed Ron poisoning Harry and had seen the expressions on his face but when asked to come with them to report it to McGonagall, she had denied everything and even went as far as informing them they were "mistaken or just imagining things" in her usual know-it-all huffy manner.

She had witnessed them returning to Gryffindor House in a state of anger and agitation especially when they were met with the grinning face of Ron Weasley. There was nothing they could do concerning him but Hermione was now their enemy and they declared open season on her.

It was only when she crept into the room that she was immediately hit with a stunner. Her wand was confiscated from her, the room was silenced and then she was revived. It was payback time. It was a little known fact that Parvati and Padma Patil had been trained in certain Asian arts of self-defense _and offense_. Parvati now gave Hermione a very thorough demonstration in the amount of pain which those arts could cause. Then Lavender gave an example of some Pureblood curses she had learned from her grandmother.

Hermione Granger was in a world of hurt. The girls hadn't said a thing from the time she had entered the room until they had finished their lessons. Lavender then cast a few healing charms which only healed the "evidence" of the damage but not the pain. After that was done, both girls left her on the floor while they went to their respective beds. Their beds were charmed against "retaliation" so they were quite safe from most spells unless the likes of McGonagall came in.

Lavender still had Hermione's wand. Hermione lay on the floor in agony and without her wand to do her own healing spells. She knew the beatings had been a warning to her. She also knew that she deserved some punishment for betraying Harry, but she also felt that she was helpless to fight against Dumbledore since it was evident that he was protecting the Weasleys.

What she didn't know was why Dumbledore was allowing these things to happen to Harry. She also didn't know if she could survive the year and that she was now truly lost and alone.

The Christmas holidays were fast approaching. Sirius had demanded that Harry come to Grimmauld Place for the holidays and Dumbledore "had graciously allowed it." Unfortunately he was insisting that the Weasleys be there also, as members of the Order and because Molly was the official "Housekeeper and Cook for the Order."

Harry had managed to inform Sirius of his poisoning, that Ron had done it and that Dumbledore was letting him off with just a stern talking to. Harry then gave Sirius an ultimatum that he would not come for Christmas if the Weasleys were there because for some strange reason he wanted to live to his next birthday.

Sirius had confronted Dumbledore about "the incident" but Dumbledore informed him that it was all Harry's imagination and that Ron had merely pranked him. Therefore Harry and ALL the Weasleys would be at Grimmauld Place for a happy, jolly and merry Christmas.

Harry would not be allowed to stay at Hogwarts for the season and he was going to go Grimmauld Place and that once again he would be sharing the same room with Ron. He had no choice in the matter and apparently Sirius believed Dumbledore and not Harry so the Weasleys would be spending Christmas with them and Harry and Ron would be sharing the same room. Case closed.

Okay be that way. Sirius was now officially a dead man in Harry's book and so was Ron Weasley. Voldemort had been kept advised of the situation and since he didn't want Harry dead, at least one other person would be dying for Christmas.

Ever since "the incident" and his getting away with the murder attempt, Ron had worn a strange smirk on his face. If was if he was telling Harry that he was untouchable and protected by Dumbledore whereas Harry was not. Ron would be killing Harry, or at the very least, making him wish he was dead once Ron got through with him.

Ron had taken to following Harry around not saying a thing but just wearing that disturbing smile. It was creeping everybody out except Harry. Harry knew he was the untouchable one and that Ron would be the one to die, but he still was on constant alert.

Hermione also noticed what was going on and she was scared out of her mind as she didn't know what was going to happen. The only mercy was that she was not being forced to go to Grimmauld Place with the others. She "was allowed" to spend Christmas with her parents, although it was expected that she come to Grimmauld Place for a special New Year's Eve dinner.

Dumbledore did indeed have a "stern heart-to-heart talk" with Ron Weasley. He hoped the boy would see sense and be content to merely "scare Harry shitless" with his unsaid threats and weird smiles. He needed the Weasleys because not only were they some of his most faithful followers but Bill was a talented warder and curse breaker, Charlie was a dragon tamer and excellent flyer and the Twins were inventive and resourceful. All of them were powerful wizards which the Order (and Dumbledore) desperately needed as allies.

Molly would force her children to blindly follow Dumbledore and with her and Ron's actions they would help to keep Harry worried and become dependent on Dumbledore if only for protection.

Minerva was not speaking to him and was strongly considering resigning not only from the Order but from Hogwarts. He had spelled both her and Snape from telling Sirius, Remus and other Order members the truth about "the incident" but Minerva had recently developed a slight immunity from some of Albus' compulsion spells.

During the past he had routinely obliviated both Minerva and Pomfrey concerning some of his manipulations especially when it concerned Harry Potter. Unfortunately, he had obliviated both witches so many times that there was now a danger that further obliviations could cause serious physical damage even destroying not only their memories but their brains and magic. So now he had to be careful with such actions because both were too valuable to him and his plans and he couldn't afford to allow them to become vegetables. He had to use his obliviations carefully.

But Pomfrey had made her escape and Minerva was seriously considering it. Just to be safe, she would not be allowed to come to Grimmauld Place. Harry needed to be protected but he would give that assignment to Sirius and Remus and hope that young Ronald didn't do something stupid.

But young Ronald had every intention of doing something stupid and once again getting away with it. He definitely would kill Potter if he could but would settle for severely damaging him. If it ruined his magic or left him maimed or mentally deficient that was good too. From what his mother told him Dumbledore needed Harry alive but not necessarily in good condition. Therefore Ron was determined to get away with as much as he could and he couldn't wait to have Potter at his mercy at Grimmauld Place.

But Ron would never reach Grimmauld Place. He had tried to force his way into the train compartment where Harry was but someone had charmed the door shut. Ron could see in the compartment and saw Harry, Neville, Looney Lovegood and both Creevey Brothers sharing it. So Ron had opted to just use his scary smile the entire length of the trip, or at least he did until Neville closed the curtains and Ron couldn't see in.

Not to be deterred, he just sat on his trunk outside the compartment waiting for one of them to come out so that he could force his way in. Eventually the trolley lady would come by or one of them would have to use the loo. So he waited.

He waited for three hours while other students walked down the hall staring at him. A Prefect or two came by and tried to drag him away from the door but he refused to budge and just kept smiling his weird smile. Eventually the Twins tried to drag him away but he informed them that "Mum said I can sit anywhere I want to and I want to sit here." So he did and they gave up.

Another two hours passed and no one had left the compartment and the trolley lady had come and gone. Then Ron started feeling the need to use the loo. It would be his luck that he'd go to the loo and that would be when one of them exited the compartment. But then they would be heading to the loo so Ron would get them.

Finally he couldn't wait any longer and headed to the loo for a quick whiz. He went in, shut and locked the door behind him and started peeing.

Two fourth year Hufflepuffs had the same need and were now standing outside the water closet door when the screams started. A frantic banging on the door from the inside was heard besides the screams which were now so loud and frenzied that several other students, including a Prefect came running.

The Prefect tried to open the door but couldn't. Then one of the Hufflepuffs screamed as blood started seeping under the door. The Head Boy came running accompanied by two seventh year Prefects and they chased away the other students before they tried to open the door. The screams had stopped but the blood continued seeping out.

Finally the Head Boy ordered that the door be blasted opened but first he warned whoever was behind the door about what he was going to do. There was no answer and shields were put up and the Head Boy cast his charm and the door blasted opened.

Much to the horror of the Head Boy and the Prefects, several Acromantulas started filing out of the door but calm heads prevailed and the Head Boy cast the first reducto while the Prefects followed his lead. After the six Acromantulas were destroyed they looked in the compartment at what little remained of Ronald Bilius Weasley.

He may not have been able to eat but he certainly had been able to be eaten.


	5. Chapter 5 - A Very Bad Christmas

JK Rowling owns all the rights to the books and the amazing characters she created. I write only to satisfy my imagination and use my creativity and make no money from my writings.

Chapter 5 – A Very Bad Christmas

News of the death spread quickly and since the train was almost at the station, the Head Boy and all the Prefects took charge of the situation.

Hermione Granger fainted dead away upon seeing the remains. Malfoy would have laughed had he merely heard about it and not seen for himself just what an Acromantula did to a victim. He promptly vomited and had to leave to "regain his composure" but he never came back to help.

Arthur and Bill Weasley had been chosen to pick up Ron, the Twins and Harry and escort them to Grimmauld Place. Instead, they were met by the Twins whose pale features and agitated manner told them more than mere words could.

Harry took the opportunity to go home with Neville. Since he had left Hedwig at Hogwarts for her own safety and his peace of mind he asked the Creeveys to send their owl to McGonagall informing her that there was no way in hell that he was going to spend Christmas with the Weasleys after what had happened on the train.

He and Neville made their escape and in the confusion and panic, no one noticed until much later when Sirius finally realized that Harry hadn't come to Grimmauld Place with the Twins. McGonagall had received the message sent with the Creeveys' owl and although she had heard what happened, there was no way she was going to tell anybody where Harry was. Let them worry – or at least let Sirius and Remus worry!

Molly Weasley was in full insanity mode by not only having lost another one of her precious children but by the way he had met his death. Since Potter was missing, it only proved that not only had he caused Ginny's death but he had certainly murdered Ron. Even Dumbledore could not calm her down and she wanted Arthur, Bill and the Twins to swear on their life and magic to avenge Ron and Ginny's death by killing Harry Potter.

In the end, Arthur had taken her to St. Mungo's and had to have her committed as she simply could not be trusted to not do something rash.

Meanwhile Sirius and Remus were trying to guess where Harry might have gone to as they had to "keep him safe" from Death Eaters, Weasleys (should Molly escape), Slytherins and whoever else might harm him (except for Dumbledore who was actually harming him but they would never believe that).

Sirius changed into his grim form and he and Remus as well as other Order members just started searching randomly for the boy. Dumbledore's instruments were "working" (as far as he knew) but they only showed that he was in good health but not where he was. Even Fawkes could not locate him.

No one thought about asking McGonagall but she had left to spend Christmas with her brother and his family for the first time in years and would not come back until after the holidays. She would then let it be known that Harry was going to Neville's house due to Ron's death and "didn't you read the note I left you?" Of course she hadn't left a note but they didn't know that.

There was not a New Year's Eve dinner due to the "tragedy" and the funeral of what was left of Ronald Weasley. But no one noticed that Hermione Granger didn't show up, attend the funeral (which was announced in the _Daily Prophet_ ) or even send a condolence card. Also they wouldn't notice that she and her parents had fled Britain until McGonagall came back, saw she wasn't there and started looking for her.

The reason for this was because shortly after she left for Hogwarts in September, her parents started receiving anonymous letters and packages in the mail. The packages contained photographs from the first Voldemortic War showing some of the atrocities committed against Muggleborns and their families. There were merely notes attached to the first photo saying that was what happened the first time and would soon be happening now.

The Grangers had no way to contact their daughter as she did not have an owl and she usually just borrowed her friend's owl Hedwig or used a school owl. Her parents would read the letter, write a reply and send it back with the snowy owl or the school owl if it decided to wait around. As Hermione had not written much this term, they couldn't tell her about the photographs or the letters.

The letters were delivered by a dark colored owl that showed up late at night, gave the Grangers the letter and flew off. The letters contained "promises" of what would happen to not only Hermione but the Grangers if "certain Mudblood filth didn't get out of Britain by January 1st." The letters were very worrying and the Grangers decided to have their practiced covered, close up their house and take a year to do volunteer charity work and take Hermione with them.

They would not be giving her a warning and they would merely pick her up at King's Cross and drive her to the airport. They expected her to put up a fight but found to their shock but relief, that their daughter was hysterical due to the murder of that nasty Weasley boy.

They calmed her down with drugs which they already had brought to "sedate" her for the plane trip with the plan of telling the airport authorities that their daughter was deathly afraid of flying and this was the only way she would get on a plane. Now they had the very real excuse that she had seen a classmate killed as they had been on a train coming home from school, he was fooling around and fell out of the train to his death and she was traumatized. They only stopped to drop her trunk off at their home and lock it in the garage before making their getaway.

Instead of being angry and argumentive, Hermione had actually expressed relief. She still wanted to learn magic but she would not be going back to Hogwarts due to what was happening at the school. Her parents had brought along all the Muggle secondary school books Hermione would need to pass and gain entrance to a Muggle university as they had hoped she would learn her magic but return to their world. It would give her something to read and get her mind off of "things" and they would still allow her to buy some magical books to study.

No matter what the Grangers were escaping while it was possible to escape and not even McGonagall's searching could find where the girl or her parents had gone.

Other interesting things happened during the Christmas holidays. Zacharias Smith, a pompous, irritating Hufflepuff who was the Hufflepuff equivalent of Draco Malfoy and who always annoyed and insulted Harry, developed a terrible, debilitating infection which had the staff at St. Mungo's baffled. His skin broke out in a dreadful rash and nothing would cure it. He did return to Hogwarts about two weeks after term began but he had to take several potions every day to calm the itch and heal the wounds which his constant itching cause.

Ravenclaw Mandy Brocklehurst developed a very bad case of magical acne as did several of the older Ravenclaws. Not only was it very painful, had St. Mungo's stumped and kept spreading all over the victim's body, it would eventually disfigure the face of the victim. No one could connect the outbreaks with Luna Lovegood, but all those cursed with this problem had been some of the worst bullies in Ravenclaw and had made Luna's life hell for the simple reason that they could.

Slowly but surely, subtle revenge was taken against those who hurt Harry or his allies which now consisted only of Neville and Luna, although Parvati and Lavender were growing on Harry.

Although he had always been pleasant and sociable towards Dean and Seamus, they always sided with Ron, especially last year, and Seamus was hostile to him this year because his mother didn't believe Voldemort was back, thought Harry was a troublemaking, attention seeking liar and almost didn't let Seamus return to school because of it. For some strange reason, she still admired and trusted Dumbledore.

The Twins were very subdued since the holidays. Well they had lost their sister less than two months before, they just lost Ron and their mother was currently in the Janus Thickery Ward at St. Mungo's and who knew if she would ever get out. If and when she did, would she still be the same old Molly Weasley, the bossy, bigoted, controlling, loud mouthed, critical, Dumbledore worshiper yet somehow still their loving mother?

Right now all they were trying to do was to pass their NEWTS and start their business. They had even stopped playing pranks as they were just too depressed.

Malfoy had tried to use the Weasleys' pain to get a few digs in. He might now be not able to talk, but he was coping and he was still the same, spoiled, nasty, mean-spirited troublemaking little sneak he had always been. And he still had Snape protecting him and there was nothing Snape liked better than seeing Gryffindors miserable especially if they bore the name Weasley, Potter or Longbottom.

Malfoy was still on the Slytherin Quidditch team and Gryffindor was still in trying out seekers since Ginny's death. Many of the "brave Gryffs" were hesitant about trying out for the team due to Harry being cursed and Ginny's death via his broom. The Twins' heart just wasn't in it due to the problems in their family. Many wondered if the entire team was cursed and Angela was doing more screaming, cursing, ranting and raging than she was training.

So it was through Quidditch that Malfoy decided to torture the Gryffindors and thus hurt Harry Potter. He arranged for some of the older Slytherins to attack the newer most promising players and make it look like "Potter's curse" was the cause of it. How delicious it would be to watch Potter suffer by watching his beloved House team go down in flames.

It was a good plan and Snape agreed to assist in the systematic destruction of the team just because. Besides it would crush McGonagall's spirit and infuriate Dumbledore. Slytherin was certain to win the House Cup this year.

What Draco and Snape didn't know was that Harry couldn't care less about Gryffindor House, the Quidditch team and especially not winning the House Cup. He would secretly rejoice considering all the things his "beloved housemates" had put him through all the years he had been at Hogwarts. He thought last year couldn't be worse until this year happened.

They were still angry with him for losing 300 points, even though it wasn't his fault, and some blamed him for Ginny's death because he was the one who was cursed and it had been his broom Ginny had been using. The fact that he had publically expressed his doubts about the broom's safety and his fear of someone using it was soon forgotten, especially the beating he had been given by his housemates because he didn't want to risk someone getting hurt due to his curse or using his broom. But that was a Gryffindor for you.

Since it was the beginning of a new year, it was time for some more subtle payback. The "biggies" were now going to get their comeuppances and it would start with Snape.

Winky had found out about Draco's plan to ruin the Gryffindor team and to start a new reign of terror on some of the other Mudbloods and blood traitors. Although no one knew why Granger hadn't returned, Draco had been bragging in Slytherin that she had disappeared due to House Malfoy's efforts and that "Granger was only the first of many who will be getting what is coming to them."

So now Draco had to be given another lesson to scare the hell out of him. Four of his intended victims were Neville and Luna, Purebloods without friends or backing and who no one ever defended and the Creevey brothers, because they were Mudbloods and Gryffindors.

Due to the bad publicity that parsel magic had been given throughout the years, especially in this century, few people knew that parsel magic was some of the strongest magic when it came to healing. Salazar Slytherin was not only a Potions Master of the first rank, he was a great healer and he collected much material on the healing arts as well as obscure diseases, many of which he researched and found cures for. These diseases and their cures were all written down in parsel in his private journals which the young Tom Riddle had found.

These journals were the source of some of the paybacks Harry was doing. That was one of the reasons why St. Mungo's had trouble curing them as the disease and/or cause and cure were not known due to having been cured by Slytherin centuries ago. Plus the spells cast and potions brewed utilized parsel so that further obscured and frustrated the staff at St. Mungo's.

Even a Potions Master of Snape's caliber was at a loss and he would soon learn the hard way not to cross the wrong people. Harry Potter was one of them only because he was James' son and Snape had unresolved issues concerning James Potter and Sirius Black and unfairly took it out on Harry. It was Snape's problem and became Harry's who had no way to defend himself.

All it would have taken was a stern order by Dumbledore, but Dumbledore enjoyed the conflict between the Potions Master and the helpless orphan boy. Dumbledore always "teased" Snape whenever he could so that when, despite his distaste and hatred of anything Potter, Snape tried to point out to Dumbledore that something was wrong with the boy, there was a problem, Albus was pushing the kid much too far or such, the first thing Dumbledore would say was "Why Severus my boy, could it be that you are developing feelings for the boy" and that would put an immediate stop to any help Snape wanted to give Harry.

Dumbledore would laugh after Snape left knowing he was keeping Harry downtrodden, subdued and paving another path towards the boy embracing the martyrdom Dumbledore had planned for him as well as hurting and angering Snape by bringing up painful memories of Lily, James Potter and Snape's pitiful life.

One could say that Snape had never had a chance in life and you would be correct as his life was difficult and Dumbledore and the Marauders only made it worse, but Snape living in hell was part of Dumbledore's plans so it must be done for the "Greater Good" and Snape was just another helpless pawn of Albus Dumbledore.

But although Severus Snape was deserving of pity, didn't mean he would get it. For whatever reason given, Snape was still an adult who viciously tortured a helpless child and made his life miserable if only to try to get back at the child's father, the father who had almost destroyed Snape. The father was dead and beyond any human revenge or hurt and the innocent child had suffered. So he was one of the persons which Voldemort was allowing Harry to punish.

Voldemort also wanted to punish Snape for betraying him by spying for Dumbledore. No matter what the reason, he betrayed him. Voldemort had wanted and needed Snape both for his power, talents and skills. He made a welcomed addition to the ranks of Death Eaters. In his own way Voldemort had been good to Snape as he really did try to reward his faithful competent, valuable followers.

In October of 1981 Voldemort's forces were just months away from winning and Voldemort had been in the process of rewarding Snape by arranging a very advantageous marriage for him with a Pureblood heiress of wealth, acceptable beauty, dedication, loyalty and even a pleasant personality, something so very rare among Pureblood witches.

He had even tried to honor Snape's request to spare the Mudblood until she refused to be spared and Voldemort had felt compelled to kill her. He found out later why.

In the end, Snape had betrayed him and was again spying for Dumbledore and was his soldier. So Snape must be punished – severely.

That was one of the reasons why Voldemort had Snape brewing so many potions because once he was finished with the assignment Harry would get to punish Snape. Voldemort would have to find another Potions Master but such was the fortunes of war.

Snape noticed the first symptoms about the first week into the new term. Naturally he ignored them. By the end of January, after Draco's new problem, Snape was starting to feel great distress and no amount of self-medicating was working. 'It must be overwork and stress' he told himself as he was still brewing potions but this time for Hogwarts and some of Dumbledore's "projects" and he was trying to find a cure for Draco.

After a week of happily picking on many victims and seeing to the further destruction of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, Draco woke up one morning to find that he had the same problem as Dumbledore. HE WAS COMPLETELY BALD!

You could hear the screams of many (Draco could only grunt loudly) echoing throughout the entire Slytherin House and Pansy Parkinson fainted, was revived and definitely decided to find a new victim…er more worthy wizard to direct her attentions to.

A message was sent immediately to Lucius and Narcissa but strangely it was ignored. Snape found out later that the exact same thing had happened to both Lucius and Narcissa. Oh well at least the family resemblance was still very noticeable.

Narcissa took it much better than Lucius, who had to be hospitalized at St. Mungo's and treated for trauma. Many people thought Narcissa Black had been named after the Greek Narcissus who was so infatuated with himself that he fell in love with his reflection and was later turned into a flower by the Greek gods. Anyone described as "narcissistic" was someone who was conceited, vain, arrogant and big-headed (much like James Potter). But this was not true of Narcissa Black.

Narcissa Black had simply been born a beautiful baby and the only child in her family who inherited her mother's blonde hair. Her mother's favorite flowers were from the Amaryllis family such as daffodils, jonquils and narcissus. Her mother wanted to name her daughter Amaryllis but that had not been allowed so after much family fighting the name Narcissa had been chosen as is sounded more Greek and in line with the Black Family's tradition of naming its children after Greek things, especially constellations.

Narcissa knew she was beautiful and made the most of her extraordinary looks, but they were not as important to her as looks were to her husband and son as they were the truly vain members of the family.

That had been one of Voldemort's paybacks for Lucius as he knew baldness was one of Lucius' worse fears. Unfortunately it had left Lucius in such a state of shock that for at least a while he would be totally useless and out of commissions until he could be potioned or spelled to get himself together.

Snape had been so preoccupied with caring for the Malfoys, trying to find cures for their ailments, brewing the potions Dumbledore was demanding of him and, last but not least, keeping up with the requirements of his job. He still was the Potions Professor at Hogwarts as well as being Head of Slytherin House and those were full time jobs.

He also was being called to Death Eater meetings and then attending those damnable and useless Order of the Phoenix meetings and whatever else some master like Dumbledore or Voldemort could think of to make his life more miserable. The man had no peace, no rest, lost sleep and was running on sheer adrenalin, willpower and pepper-up potions.

So he ignored his pains and all the warning signs that something was physically wrong with him until he collapsed while teaching a third year potions class.

Medi-witch Aldridge realized it was serious and totally beyond her skill and immediately sent Snape to St. Mungo's without bothering to inform Dumbledore before she did it. Pomfrey had never been allowed to send anyone to St. Mungo's or even to request assistance from them unless specifically given permission by Dumbledore to do so. He liked to keep his secrets, cover things up and thankfully Pomfrey was an excellent Medi-witch and could work wonders.

Alva Aldridge hated Dumbledore and was under Ministry orders to report any and all things immediately to the Ministry and send patients with "special problems or ailments" to St. Mungo's and wait for the diagnosis before informing Dumbledore.

It was probably the only thing which saved Snape from total disaster. Severus Snape was diagnosed with the onset of a Wizarding form of arthritis and it was spreading at an unusually fast rate. He had ignored the muscle aches and pains, tenderness, swelling, joint stiffness, sudden loss of flexibility in his hands. His sleep patterns had always been poor and with everything going on since the Dark Lord's return he hadn't noticed the weight loss and feeling so very tired that he had almost fallen asleep while brewing difficult potions.

But now nothing could be ignored anymore. Healer Shelby and been called in for his opinion. Besides being the official coroner at St. Mungo's, he was one of the top healers at the hospital. After conferring with the other healers, he convinced Head Healer Carrollton to declare Severus Snape unfit to return to his position at Hogwarts.

"Apparently, Professor Snape has being showing symptoms of the disease for years and like most professionals, he convinced himself that he was just tired or working too hard and wouldn't dream of seeing a healer. With all of the _**strange and unusual things going on at Hogwarts**_ since the return of the Boy-Who-Lived, his stress levels have escalated and he is so physically weakened that his immune system is severely compromised and it has manifested itself in this rapid progression of the disease."

"Since it has now been diagnosed, treatment can be started and the progress of the disease can _**hopefully**_ be slowed to a normal level. But, he can have no stress in his life let alone keep up the frantic pace he has since he began work at Hogwarts. He must be heavily medicated, take specialized potions and have absolute rest and be exposed to as little stress as possible once we start the treatment."

"This means that he can do research, brew occasionally but not continually and do the occasional lecture _**but he simply cannot continue to work for Albus Dumbledore and Hogwarts**_."

Healer Carrollton knew exactly what Shelby meant. He too had tangled with Dumbledore and knew that what Albus Dumbledore wanted Albus Dumbledore got and despite his "Light" reputation, he didn't care about anybody or anything except for what he wanted. Albus Dumbledore didn't care about the health, well-being or happiness of anyone. He used people until they either burned out or died.

If Snape went back to Hogwarts, not only would the treatment not work but he would quickly worsen to the point that partial or even complete paralysis would set in within a year or possible less. Snape had been the youngest Potions Master in 100 years and despite the "rumors" of his part in the last war, he had shown great promise.

Yet instead of doing research for the Ministry, St. Mungo's or, it was rumored, the Unspeakables, he had taken a position as Potion instructor at Hogwarts, something for which he had neither the inclination nor temperament. Since Dumbledore had "vouched" for Snape and kept him out of Azkaban, no doubt a deal had been made and the talented young wizard was now a lackey of Albus Dumbledore and the old bastard used that talent for his own ends.

Severus Snape had just turned 36 years old. He looked 10-15 years older but then working for Dumbledore would do that to anyone. Dumbledore would DEMAND that Snape return to Hogwarts and his demand would probably be granted. But Snape would be dead within the year because as soon as he could no longer brew potions and be of use to anybody he would probably kill himself as potions were the only thing in his life that made it worthwhile so he would have nothing to live for.

Healer Carrollton made a medical decision. SEVERUS SNAPE WOULD NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES BE RETURNING TO HOGWARTS DUE TO AN INCURABLE MEDICAL CONDITION. He would be going to a special clinic for treatment and would stay and be treated at that clinic until such time as the progress of his disease was slowed or halted or until he was declared permanently incapacitated and would then be confined for the rest of his life in a hospital ward.

He had the approval of all the chief healers at St. Mungo's and had Fudge approve it. Fudge did it at the request of Narcissa Malfoy on her husband's behalf (as Lucius was still in shock) and because it would infuriate Dumbledore.

There was nothing that Dumbledore could do to get Severus Snape back under his control. He was furious for many reasons. Not only had he lost his chief spy, personal potions brewer, most valuable lackey next to McGonagall, and the chief torturer of Harry Potter (next to Dumbledore himself), now he had to quickly find an "amenable" person to teach Potions.

But once again the Ministry "helped out" and convinced Horace Slughorn to fill in at least until the end of the year. Dumbledore had been planning to seek out Slughorn for his own reasons and here the man was if only temporarily, so things were not a total loss.

Unfortunately Slughorn could not be controlled by Dumbledore. They went way back and Horace knew many of Dumbledore's "tricks" and took precautions to circumvent them. Rumor had it that Slughorn had been "specially briefed" regarding the "current situation" at Hogwarts and Slughorn was to report anything out of the ordinary directly to Fudge.

Oh well when all else fails – _**let's blame Sirius Black**_!


	6. Chapter 6 - An Interesting New Year

JK Rowling owns all the rights to the books and the amazing characters she created. I write only to satisfy my imagination and use my creativity and make no money from my writings.

Chapter 6 – An Interesting New Year

Horace Slughorn started his new assignment exactly one week after Snape's collapse in Potions. Initially he had been very excited to fill in as it would be his chance to finally meet the Boy-Who-Lived. Dumbledore had had custody of the boy since November 1, 1981 and would not let anyone near him, especially Horace Slughorn.

Even once the boy came to Hogwarts Dumbledore would not allow access to the boy without his expressed approval and permission. This meant there was still no chance to talk to the child because Dumbledore had control as to who could enter the school. There were only certain "special people" always allowed to enter the school like the Minister of Magic, the occasional dignitary, etc.

However, they would still have to have Dumbledore's permission to "roam around the school" and definitely to talk with Harry Potter. Therefore no one could contact the boy unless Dumbledore said they could. He was still monitoring the boy's mail "for his protection" and the boy was whisked off at the end of the school year to return to the place of safety where he grew up protected by Dumbledore.

With the exception of this year, the boy had spent every school holiday at Hogwarts. From what Horace had heard, the boy was kept totally isolated from the other Houses and guarded by those who Dumbledore allowed. It was always a Weasley escorting the boy outside of Gryffindor Tower and/or an abrasive Muggleborn witch, who was well-known to be a worshiper of Dumbledore and a complete tattletale.

But now, there were two dead Weasleys and the Muggleborn girl had gone missing. Horace was now the Potions teacher and there was now no way that Dumbledore could prevent Horace from "befriending" and "guiding" the boy especially since he had the blessing of the Ministry.

Their first meeting was a revelation. He had asked Potter to meet with him before the dinner meal to discuss his potions grade as it had come to Slughorn's attention that Harry Potter was hopeless at potions which Horace found difficult to believe since his mother had been a prodigy and James Potter was fairly decent in the subject.

Harry happily explained his problem with potions. Sigh! So Severus had sabotaged the boy, no doubt for revenge against James Potter and Sirius Black for their treatment of the politically helpless Slytherin boy. It was understandable. Not nice or professional but totally understandable. The same thing had happened to the Longbottom heir as well as many, many Gryffindors, at least half of the Hufflepuffs and even some of the Ravenclaws.

Since it was Harry's OWL year, the boy had practically begged Slughorn to help him and Neville pass. "Could you please give teach us what we should have been taught in the first place?" Potter had asked showing off his puppy dog eyes. The poor boy was so desperate that he had even offered to pay Horace for the proper tutoring.

The boy had placed himself in Horace's hands – just as long as Neville could be included also. The three of them would soon become "friends" of a sort with Horace being the all wise, all knowing mentor who would save the boys' potential careers. It was a match made in heaven in Horace's view and there wasn't a thing Dumbledore could do to prevent it.

So for the rest of the year Harry and Neville spent much of their free time with Slughorn, whether it was attending his Slug Club events or getting their private tutoring. Now that Harry didn't have to worry about Quidditch or putting up with Ron and Hermione, he actually had the time and patience to learn more and to study. At the rate he was going both he and Neville should pass all of their OWLS with flying colors.

Harry had managed to get Luna Lovegood into the Club hoping that so much of the bullying done to her would stop. But it hadn't and Cho Chang was the leader of the "mean girls" or at least she was until a few strange things started happening.

She had been flirting with Harry all year but he had been ignoring her for his own reasons. She kept using the "I'd like to know all about Cedric's last moments" tactic to get him to talk to her. He had told her everything there was to know about the two of them sharing the cup, his tragic death on Voldie's orders and how his ghost had asked him to bring his body back to his parents. It had taken him 40 minutes to tell all there was to tell the girl, but she still kept at him.

She had actually asked him out to Hogsmeade to "talk" some more about Cedric, but he had refused. This was after Ginny's death and Ron's threats and he was trying to keep a low profile and survive but she had not taken the hint. She still kept trying despite his polite indifference.

She decided to take her frustration out on poor Luna. Luna was not the first nor was she the last Ravenclaw to be picked on by Cho and her friends. Apparently it was a "Ravenclaw Tradition" to bully the helpless, especially if they just happened to be in the lead for best of the year in Ravenclaw. Su Li in Harry's year had been given "the treatment" and the girl had no female friends in Ravenclaw but did hang out with a few Hufflepuffs for companionship and safety.

She wouldn't dare consider giving comfort to Luna because that would only serve to bring her to the attention of her tormentors and there were times when she would still be the victim of an occasional "prank" to let her know that she was still a pariah in her House.

Ginny had basically abandoned Luna once they had gone to Hogwarts and not because they were in different houses. Ginny had been under the spell of the diary during her first year but by second year she had seen how unpopular her eccentric friend was and didn't want to damage her own reputation by associating with "Looney" the crazy Ravenclaw. She also was busy plotting out how to attract the attention of Harry Potter her future husband.

Once Cho had shown her true unkind colors, she was put on Harry's list. All he had to do now was decide what would really teach the girl not only a lesson but make an example of her and her partners in crime so that future Ravenclaws would not be made to suffer like Su Li and Luna and the others had. But it had to be a different punishment and something that couldn't be traced back to Harry or Luna.

Many times Luna was made fun of due to the earrings she wore or the butter beer cap necklace. No one bothered to ask why she wore such unique jewelry. If they had, she would have told them that as a nine year old girl she had made the necklace to give to her mother for her birthday. Unfortunately, her mother was killed right in front of Luna's eyes two weeks before her birthday.

Luna wanted to bury the necklace with her mother, but she was told by a nasty neighbor that it wasn't a very nice thing for her mother to be buried in so she should just throw it in the garbage where it belonged. Xeno Lovegood, Luna's father, heard it all and assured his daughter that it was a lovely necklace which her mother would have been proud and happy to receive.

"But your poor mother's neck was injured so badly in the explosion that she can't wear a necklace." Instead he convinced her to keep the necklace and to think of her mother every time she wore it.

At least the necklace was one of the very few possessions of Luna which was not stolen and hidden during the course of the year as she never took it off. It was considered so ugly by the Ravenclaws that it was not worth stealing.

But then Cho had noticed Harry talking nicely with Luna Lovegood. She heard through the grapevine that it was not the first time. Luna had then been admitted to the Slug Club as the girl was brilliant especially in potions.

So Looney must suffer – a lot more than usual. That would prove to be a very bad mistake because the lonely Ravenclaw was now under the protection of Harry Potter.

Usually the Ravenclaw bullies did their dastardly deeds outside of their House. Flitwick did so frown on bullying and whenever he found out about it he took steps to stop it. He relied on his Prefects to monitor the House and report anything mean going on. Usually his Prefects did exactly that but for some reason since her first year the Lovegood girl had been "fair game" for the many bullies.

The Prefects did not report the abuse given to the girl. In the House itself only her clothes were stolen. Outside the House, her homework was stolen just as she entered a class, she was insulted and made fun of, her food was spelled and many other examples of torment were given to the girl. Flitwick had noticed on occasion but had trusted his Prefects completely when they told him that after careful investigation, it was found that the girl was just…odd.

Then for some reason every time Flitwick had decided to do some personal investigation he would start and then forget what he was going to do. In other words, he was being spelled to not be able to help Luna Lovegood.

Cho was a Prefect so she "took charge" about the "Looney problem" and she and a few others did some really mean, nasty and spiteful things to the helpless girl. For five painful days starting on a Thursday night, Luna was bombarded with "pranks" or rather hexes, curses and even the occasional potion being shoved down her throat.

Since it all had started after Luna's last Charms class of the week, Flitwick hadn't noticed the girl being missing. Then the weekend came. Monday morning Luna was supposed to be in his Charms class. She never missed classes. After asking around Flitwick discovered – from talking with a Hufflepuff – that Luna Lovegood had been found almost on the verge of death and had been taken out of Hogwarts by Potter and Longbottom and was now at St. Mungo's.

He immediately flooed to St. Mungo's and was horrified at what he had found. Not only had some of his Ravenclaws done this to the girl but all of the Prefects knew about it and two of them had participated in injuring the girl. The rest of his House KNEW but said or did nothing except to laugh or agree that the "Looneybin" had gotten some of what she deserved for being a disgrace to Ravenclaw.

When Healer Carrollton heard that "Flitwick had finally shown up" he immediately tore into the wizard and gave him a full report not only of what had been happening to the Lovegood girl since her arrival at Hogwarts but also to other students. Flitwick tried to defend himself saying that he had not known only to be told by the livid Head of St. Mungo's that was no excuse and he should be ashamed of himself.

It had taken Flitwick swearing on his life and magic to convince Carrollton that he hadn't known and would never have condone it if he had His only excuse was that "Dumbledore is in charge and he…well I am sure you know what _mischief_ Albus gets up to."

Carrollton did and they made some arrangements before Flitwick headed back to Hogwarts.

He called a mandatory meeting for his House and asked if anyone knew where Luna was. All he got from her fellow Ravenclaws was a look of innocence so fake, so phony that it had to be forced. He did notice a few snickers coming from his Claws when his back was turned. His students apparently didn't know that being part Goblin, his hearing was better than the average human.

He quickly turned around to see several Claws trying to wipe the smiles off of their faces. He then realized something was terribly wrong.

"I will now take 100 points from Ravenclaw if one of you doesn't tell me what has happened to Luna Lovegood."

A look of shock replaced the sly smiles. They quickly recovered and looked as if they would rather lose the points then tell their Head of House what happened, so he added a further "inducement" to find out what was going on.

"I will also be taking 5 – no 10 grade points off of all of your final grades unless someone tells me the truth."

"She was punished for being a disgrace to Ravenclaw," a frightened Claw spit out. There was nothing like the threat of losing grade points to make a Claw sell out their own mother.

The information came spewing out from the mouths of all of the Claws. When they were finished they were really that – finished. To say that Flitwick was angry was an understatement. He had never been this angry (at least with his House members) in his entire life. He then immediately gave them a punishment so severe that hopefully it would serve as a warning.

All Prefects were relieved of their badges and 100 points were taken from them. That meant that 600 points was lost by Ravenclaw. He had sent for Minerva McGonagall, Pomona Sprout, Slughorn, Madame Hooch and Medi-witch Aldridge to hear the next pronouncement and to act as witnesses. He wanted them to be able to vouch for and agree with his decision so that Dumbledore could not reverse it. He also knew that the Medi-witch reported directly to the Ministry and would immediately inform Fudge about the "scandal" before Dumbledore could obliviate them all and overturn the decision.

Thus, to punish all Ravenclaws for their going along with the bullying of any and all of their House members but especially Luna Lovegood the following would be happening. Flitwick was taking them out of the running for the House Cup. They were already in the minus column due to the Prefects losing so many points. He was also removing them from participating in Quidditch for this year.

He made it known that anyone caught bullying or playing "a prank" of a hurtful or harmful nature would have 5 points deducted from their final grade average. Seven Ravenclaws actually fainted at this announcement, Cho being one of them.

Then he threatened even more punishments for bad behavior and in the presence of the other Heads, Hooch and Aldridge he asked for and received their cooperation in looking out for unacceptable behavior from his Ravenclaws. Aldridge was allowed to leave first so that she could get her report sent to Fudge before Dumbledore found out. She would probably floo directly to the Ministry to make her report as no Hogwarts house elf and the mail could definitely not be trusted.

The ones who had done the most damage to Luna Lovegood, such as Cho Chang, Marietta Edgecombe and a few others were given detention for a month with Filch and were denied any and all library privileges for two weeks.

When the sounds of outrage were shouted out Flitwick replied by shouting angrily, "You nearly _killed_ that poor girl. If Dumbledore would only allow it, I would see you all expelled. Just so you know, St. Mungo's has reported it to Amelia Bones and will be conducting an investigation. This time the Headmaster will not be allowed to overturn the punishments no matter who any of you or your parents 'know' at the Ministry."

With that said, he dismissed his House and then he and the other teachers left to have a meeting in his quarters. He discussed his meeting with Healer Carrollton with his peers and about what was going on at Hogwarts now.

Umbridge's treatment of Potter and certain other students was discussed and why Dumbledore had allowed it all to happen and to continue happening despite knowing that it had been done.

"Albus usually gets away with anything he wants to do the Ministry notwithstanding," Slughorn asked, "So why is he acting this way especially when it concerns Potter?"

He had his own suspicions due to his access to the gossip and rumor network but he wanted to hear the opinion of his colleagues. The silence which greeted his question only confirmed the theory. Albus was still up to his old tricks and manipulations and was using his complete power and control over Potter for some of his Greater Good nonsense. As usual, the welfare of any of the students was ignored and the same old same old House rivalries were not only still in operation but stronger than ever.

And no one would know the reason for it or could do anything about while Albus Dumbledore reigned.


End file.
